More exaggerations and misstatements in the final GOP debate before the Iowa caucuses.
Stories by Brooks Jackson
Director Emeritus, FactCheck.org
Bush: The Constitution a ‘Goddamned Piece of Paper’?
Q: Did President Bush call the Constitution a “goddamned piece of paper”?
A: Extremely unlikely. The Web site that reported those words has a history of quoting phony sources and retracting bogus stories.
The Right to Lobby
Q: Are lobbyists justified in a democracy?
A: The Constitution guarantees the right to petition government.
Ben & Jerry’s Misleading Spending Chart
Q: What about Ben & Jerry’s chart saying 50% of federal spending is military?
A: Not true. The real figure is 19.4%.
Refugees Don’t Get $1,800 Per Month
Q: Does the U.S. pay $1,800 a month to refugees?
A: No. A false claim about Canada is being recycled in a bogus e-mail to “American taxpayers.”
Clinton and Economic Growth in the ’90s
Q: Were Clinton’s policies responsible for the 1990s’ economic growth?
A: He deserves part of the credit, but many factors were at work.
GOP YouTube Debate Flubs
The CNN/YouTube debate among Republicans lacked any talking snowmen, but we did note a few false and misleading statements by the candidates.
Fred’s Facts Check Out; Rudy’s Don’t
Former Sen. Fred Thompson got the facts straight for his GOP debate debut Oct. 9. But former Mayor Rudy Giuliani added to a lengthening string of exaggerations and misstatements:
Stuck in Iraq
Summary
The latest Democratic presidential debate brought into sharp focus the candidates’ disagreements on how quickly the U.S. can disentangle itself from Iraq. Long-shot candidate Dennis Kucinich stood by his promise to bring all troops home within three months, and Bill Richardson said he could do it in a year – even at the cost of leaving some military equipment behind. But Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama said they might have to keep some combat troops there in a counterterrorism role for more than four years,
Maybe It’s a Trend
Last month we were happy to note the launch of PolitiFact.com, a joint project of the St. Petersburg Times of Florida and Congressional Quarterly of Washington, D.C. Today we welcome The Washington Post‘s new feature, “The Fact Checker,” written by veteran journalist Michael Dobbs with the assistance of chief researcher Alice Crites.
The first four Fact Checker articles find fault with statements by Republican presidential candidates Fred Thompson and Sam Brownback,